AH hello!!!!
im sorry i haven't uploaded this fic in a while!
basically the internet in my house cut of 2 weeks ago so i couldn't upload :(
Anyway enjoy a short, fluff chapter of the babies ;)

Being in a relationship was never something that Akutagawa ever thought of growing up. Partly because he struggled to find anyone attractive, he either thought girls were ugly or had terrible personalities and he'd never paid much attention to boys either, just assumed they all liked the exact same things like sports and drinking.

He didn't know many people in relationships either, he grew up with his widowed grandma in the middle of nowhere until he was 16, then he saw an ad for a spare room in Yokohama and moved in with a bunch of strangers, working odd jobs until he decided he wanted to go to University. He was far too focused on getting the qualifications needed to get into University to pay attention to the people around him, let alone think about them to the extent of finding them attractive. Then when University rolled around, he was living with Chuuya and...well, Chuuya didn't do relationships per se. The only person he ever genuinely cared for, loved even, turned him down and he'd been pretty bitter ever since. Then of course there were the were couples in his class, all of which seemed annoying and to be completely honest insecure as hell. There was always a rumor about somebody cheating, or someone lying or someone being inconsiderate.

All the gossip drove Akutagawa insane and he'd decided that if he was going to die alone that was fine; because he'd rather die alone than be murdered by some jealous lover who falsely accuses him of cheating on them.

Akutagawa's phone buzzed in his pocket, not only alerting him of a message but the nosy man next to him.

"Is it your boyfriend?" Chuuya asked, a humorous glint in his tone.

Boyfriend. Aktugawa had a boyfriend.

It still seemed surreal since he always thought he'd be alone, in a romantic sense, for his whole life. Not because he thought there wasn't someone dumb enough out there to find him attractive or to have a crush on him. He was voluntarily staying away from that side of life, the fluffy side which made him feel queasy and awkward. Somehow in all of that, he'd managed to not only get a boyfriend but one who was so content with Aktugawa being himself, and so patient that it didn't even feel like he was dating anyone.

In a weird way it felt like nothing had changed, even though some things clearly had. Well, it's obvious to say that Akutagawa wouldn't be texting in the middle of a lecture if he didn't have a boyfriend.

Atsushi: Are you sure? It doesn't look right.

Since the couple studied at different universities, their schedules were entirely different. While Akutagawa was still in class, Atsushi had long finished for the day and had decided to cook. At first, Akutagawa saw nothing wrong with that—after all everybody knows how to cook a little, but god. Atsushi could probably find a way to boil water wrong, burn it even. He was hopeless, a health hazard, and what's worse is he thought that making a stir fry would be the easiest thing for him to cook.

Luckily, Akutagawa was quite the little chief.

Akutagawa: I'm sure, just don't do anything I don't tell you to do. Have you cut the veggies?
Atsushi sent a photo.

The sigh that left Akutagawa's mouth kept Chuuya's attention, the ginger glanced down at the image on the screen and huffed out a small laugh, "Fucking hell, how has he lived this long?"

Akutagawa's mind seemed to numb the more he looked at the cut, but not peeled, onion sizzling in a bath of hot oil.

"If he doesn't somehow manage to accidentally fall on a knife and die, I'm gonna kill him." Akutagawa claimed.

"It's kinda cute though." Chuuya said.

He hummed along, "Yeah." His lips turning upwards for a fraction of a second.

Akutagawa: I'm fucking disgusted
Atsushi: Ryuu!! ☹ I'm trying here.
Akutagawa: Try something that requires less skill and talent before you burn your face off because I am not taking you to the hospital and explaining that you're severely culinarily challenged.
Atsushi: You're lucky that you're funny.
Akutagawa: And You're lucky that I know how to make a stir fry so throw that shit away and wait a few hours and I'll make you one.

"Awh, little Ryuu is a simp—"

"Shut the fuck up or I'll break your wrists." Aktugawa stopped Chuuya's teasing dead in its tracks.

"Can I come too? I want to—"

"No."

Atsushi: Awwrh Ryuu :')

Akutagawa leaned himself into his chair as he put his phone away to focus on the rest of the lecture. It was weird having plans after classes, to Akutagawa the end of classes meant the end of his day no matter what time it was; but now that he had a boyfriend, still weird to think about, who operated on a normal day setting he couldn't just go to bed after his 1 p.m. lecture and call it a day.

He would never complain about getting to see Atsushi, however, he would and did complain about the public transport system he needed to catch to see him. They lived on opposite ends of the same city, after all, it was quite the trek if you were to walk and despite loving a good bit of alone time—he really didn't want to be walking for hours. He made sure to buy a few ingredients before stepping onto the bus, onions that the idiot had somehow manage to butcher, peppers, carrots, sauces, and some extra chicken just encase. Of course, the ride over was terrible. The bus smelt faintly of weed and old people, the seats were uncomfortable and there was a child throwing a tantrum four seats behind him; but having an apartment door swing open to reveal his smiling boyfriend, who he hadn't seen in person in at least two weeks, made it all worth it.

A smile crept onto his face instantly, "You're alive I see." Atsushi hummed as he let the man in, "That's surprising."

"Oh shut up, you'd miss me if I died," He would, he really would...but of course he wouldn't say that out loud, "Gimmie." Atsushi said cutely, making grabby hands toward the bag of goods he held in his hands.

"No way, sit down I'll make it I don't trust you in the kitchen."

Atsushi huffed, crossing his thin arms over the splattered apron he wore "You can't expect me to learn if you don't let me help."

"I don't expect you to learn, I expect to receive word of your untimely death if I let you so much as hold a butter knife." Akutagawa wandered into the kitchen to see less of a disaster than he expected, I mean yes, he could see oil prints all over the side but he could forgive that. He rummaged around, grabbing some cleaning spray from under the sink and giving the surfaces a quick wipe down before he began, "Get out of the kitchen Atsushi." He grumbled, he could see him stood in the doorway trying to sneak in.

"I never knew you were so domestic," Atsushi said, eyes following his boyfriend intently as he rolled the sleeves of his jumper up and began to wash the vegetables he bought, "It's kinda hot."

"Don't say things like that." Akutagawa complained as he felt his cheeks instantly heating up. He thought once he officially began dating Atsushi that the butterflies in his stomach would subside but if anything, they were stronger now.

Atsushi's light laugh was a lot closer than it should've been, "Why not? It's true," Atsushi wrapped his arms softly around Akutagawa's waist from the back, his cheek resting on the man's shoulders comfortably, "I like a man that can cook."

"If you could cook on your own you wouldn't feel that way."

"Then let me help and we'll find out."

Akutagawa wasn't weak-willed at all, in fact, he was incredibly stubborn and hard-headed usually but...with Atsushi, he just couldn't say no "You can watch and learn—" Atsushi's loud cheer cut him off, "But if you even try to pick up a knife ill—"

"Stab me?" Atsushi guessed, letting go of his boyfriend and watching as he began to peel the onion before he sliced and diced it.

Akutagawa sneered, "I was going to go for the sexual torture route, but if you'd prefer to be stabbed---"

"Ryuu! You can't just say that so boldly!" His boyfriend whined, hiding his embarrassed expression in his hands.

"Why not? It's true" The taller man mimicked, throwing his voice to be much higher-pitched than it actually was.

Atsushi was quiet after that and watched his boyfriend work magic in a pan. He chopped the veggies, chicken and then added a small amount of oil to the wok and cooked the chicken strips along with the noodles and sauce, then grilled the veggies along with them.

It smelt amazing, a sweet and sour aroma spread through the whole kitchen making Atsushi infinitely hungrier...and alarmingly more attracted to his boyfriend. He was so relaxed in the kitchen, every little whirl of the spatula and changing of the heat was done confidently, the stark opposite to Atsushi who would be suspicious of every little sound. If his pasta ever boiled over he'd probably need to go to therapy afterward to deal with the trauma.

The dish didn't take long to cook, Akutagawa soon plated it up in whatever he could find, which was an abundance of Tupperware.

Atsushi snatched the food as soon as it was in arms reach, broke his chopsticks, and wolfed down a sizable chunk, "Careful! You'll choke you idiot slow down!" his boyfriend warned, watching Atsushi eat was like watching a starved tiger stumble across a carcass. It was a terrifying experience, also very messy.

For the brief second that Atsushi didn't have food blocking his windpipe, he choked out a compliment "It tastes so good!"

Akutagawa ate his portion like a normal human being and in fairness, it did taste quite good...but not good enough to risk your life for, "Your standards are far too low."

Atsushi disagreed vehemently, "Incorrect, you're just wayyyyyyyyy too good for me—"

"Shut the fuck up right now."

Atsushi laughed loudly, full stomach rolling on the floor as he tried to pull himself up from the uncomfortable position he'd managed to find himself in, on the floor and flat on his back with a stomach so bloated it hurt to think about moving.

He loved their little back and forth arguments, he loved aggressively complimenting Akutagawa by bringing himself down a few pegs because in doing that, his boyfriend would always pop his lid a little. Atsushi found it adorable, and on top of that the subtle compliments he was thrown in response did miracles for his confidence. After all, if he was worthy of Akutagawa's affections then he was worthy of the entire world one way or another.

The two, with bellies full, settled onto the small sofa together and shoved some random show on the T.V. to act as background noise.

Akutagawa always thought he'd hate being expected to do things for a significant other, or he'd hate them always being around and wanting to talk, he'd hate how he'd be expected to show public affection and god, his worst fear, cuddling. How anyone could be willingly pressed against another person for hours baffled him. There was nothing in the social spectrum that Akutagawa hated more than the idea of cuddling or being cuddled.

"Am I too heavy?" Atsushi asked from where he was laying, nestled into Akutagawa's chest with their legs tangled underneath a warm blanket...cuddling.

White tips shook his head, "You're fine" He told him, and when the smaller placed his head back onto his chest Akutagawa was quick to rest his chin on his head.

To say that he was surprised he was content like this, happy even was a massive understatement. He let Atsushi use him as a personal futon, let him play with his hair and snuggle into his neck. Every so often he'd even catch himself squeezing Atsushi closer, hugging him even though he was literally right on top of him. He liked it, he liked being snuggling on the sofa with a book in one hand and his boyfriend sprawled out and napping on top of him.

It quickly became something he felt he almost needed. It was his downtime, his stress-free zone. He'd find himself becoming aggie without it, so much so that Chuuya could tell when he hadn't had his daily cuddle. Which Akutagawa found annoying, especially coming from Chuuya, he wasn't some sappy soft boy after all...well, not normally! It was just for Atsushi.

One thing that was quite jarring though, was realizing how little they knew about each other and also how little that mattered to either of them. It was as if they hadn't existed until they met each other, which was completely absurd. Akutagawa had confidence that Atsushi truly didn't care if he'd done anything bad in his past, not that he had, that Atsushi liked him for who he was at that moment. In that way, they were completely in tune.

"Ryuu?" Atsushi's voiced hummed against his collarbone, once again a feeling he never thought he'd enjoy. Akutagawa hummed back, not releasing his squeezing grip on the boy on top of him, "Whats your favorite tea?"

"What type of question is that?" Akutagawa snorted even though he had an answer, "I like British tea."

"Why?"

"It's soothing, you can add honey or sugar and milk to it and it's really good to dunk biscuits into." Atsushi chucked, "What's funny?"

"You sound like an ad." Akutagawa rolled his eyes but still found himself planting an affectionate kiss on the boy's forehead, "What was that for?"

"Felt like it." He said, amazed by the fact that was a viable argument now. He could really just kiss Atsushi, hug Atsushi, cook for him, and nap with him just...just because he felt like it.

Akutagawa felt like he wanted to do nothing other than, he couldn't think of anything better; and the feeling was incredibly mutual.

2344 words <3